BURR OAK 241 



about by planting, as recommended for White Oak. Be- 

 longing to the White Oak class, its acorns mature in one 

 year. The distance apart that the seeds should be planted 

 in the forest must be largely determined by the character 

 of the soil and the location. If in fertile, moist ground five 

 to six feet would be advisable, but if on dry, rocky, and 

 sterile ground, then four to five feet would be far enough 

 apart. 



BUER OAK : Quercus macrocarpa 



THIS tree is most generally known as Burr Oak, although 

 in some sections of the country it is called " Mossycup 

 Oak," from the fact that its acorn is largely covered by a 

 cup which is clothed with pointed scales, having a loose 

 fringed border ; and this name is not at all inappropriate. 

 It is an important member of the White Oak class and in 

 many respects is a close competitor in general usefulness 

 with the White Oak. Its botanical range is greater, and 

 while it prefers low, rich bottom lands along rivers and 

 smaller streams, it will accept high grounds if fertile ; but 

 it does not grow on uplands as readily or thrive as well 

 there as White Oak. Its range covers, intermittently, the 

 entire country east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, 

 excepting the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis- 

 sissippi, and parts of Texas and Tennessee. It attains its 

 greatest size in Indiana and Illinois, where it has been 

 found one hundred and sixty feet high and six feet in diam- 

 eter, with a stem clean of limbs for a height of seventy- 

 five feet or more. It has broad-spreading branches and is 

 a giant among its associates. It will make up a pure forest 

 or thrive with such companions as seek the soil it prefers. 

 It largely formed the well-known " oak openings " in some 

 of the Western States. Like nearly all other Oaks, it is 

 intolerant of shade. It has a thick deeply furrowed bark, 

 and in .this it is equaled only by the Chestnut Oak. 



Its wood is strong, hard, heavy, tough, close-grained, 



